AFP boss Reece Kershaw offers election warning as threats against politicians spike

The AFP boss says the number of threats against politicians has nearly doubled in the past four years.

Threats against Australian politicians and dignitaries have nearly doubled in the last two years, including a “particularly troubling” rise of people targeting female MPs.

Australian Federal Police boss Reece Kershaw provided the update, as Anthony Albanese is expected to call an election on Friday, believed to be for May 3.

The AFP commissioner says the threats and reports of harassment nuisance and offensive communications had nearly doubled from 555 in the 2021-22 financial year to 1009 in 2023-24.

As of February 28 this year, there have been 712 reports, with the number of threats this year expected to surpass last year’s figures.

Mr Kershaw said politicians were targeted regardless of their geography, background and political spectrum, with the alleged attacks directed at their comments in the media and positions on policy.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the number of reports had nearly doubled since he 2021-2022 financial year. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“Particularly troubling” were the “nature of threats and comments directed at female parliamentarians and high office holders”.

Mr Kershaw added that in some cases, female politicians were being targeted because of their gender.

“Australia’s politicians and high office holders are being targeted because they have a public profile, because of the comments they have made in the media, or their positions on policy,” he said.

“However, in some cases it appears male offenders are targeting women – because they are women – or women with an ethnic background.”

He urged politicians to report any threats or incidents to police, and said the AFP would “not tolerate” and take “swift actions” against the threats.

“Noting that the AFP has a victim-centric approach, we will often be guided by their wishes and deploy the blue uniform to knock on an offender’s door,” he said.

“This can be enough to stop the harassment. And usually when we knock on their door they are shocked to see us – one – because they probably thought we could not identify them; and two, because they say they never meant to cause offence.”

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw warned of a concerning increase in threats made against politicians. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

Giving an update on investigations, Mr Kershaw said six men had been charged across five separate incidents for allegedly threatening parliamentarians in the past six weeks.

One man was also charged for allegedly threatening a political organisation, with the men aged between 29 to 64.

Mr Kershaw said the increase in threats was impacted be the “febrile” worsening social cohesion in Australia, growing issue-motivated extremism and a growing sense of distrust in traditional institutions as a result of Covid-19.

Offenders were also more quickly willing to use violence to “further their cause,” and the growth of anonymised platforms have also “emboldened people to make comments and threats from a distance,” he added.

Originally published as AFP boss Reece Kershaw offers election warning as threats against politicians spike